Man gets jail time for assault on child

A Gravenhurst man has been given a three-month jail sentence after he punished his son’s forgetfulness by flinging him onto a flight of stairs.

The man appeared in a Bracebridge court on Tuesday, Nov. 27 to face assault charges laid against him on Nov. 15. Crown attorney Margaret Janzen said that when police were called that day, a nine-year-old boy told them that the incident began when he was sent to get the mail but neglected to bring home the key afterwards.

Janzen said the accused then got upset, grabbed the boy by his arm and threw him onto a set of stairs. When the child went to school the next day, Janzen said he had a large bruise on his lower back and thigh, which were reported to a child worker at the school and later to police.

The man’s lawyer, Bruce Thomson, said his client wasn’t concerned about the forgotten key but was rather more interested in what was attached to it.

“There was a knife attached to the chain the mail key was on,” he said.

The court heard that the man has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 1999, which include a prior conviction for assault.

Thomson said the man and his family have had dealings with the Children’s Aid Society in the past, and that it is unlikely the organization will allow the man to return home to his family. He also said the man previously suffered a closed-head injury in 1998.

“CAS will have many hoops for (the accused) to jump through before allowing him to come home,” he said.

On top of jail time, crown attorney Janzen asked the court to consider tacking on an additional period of probation after his release.

“Kids can’t just be thrown around the home at the mercy of adults,” she said. “An assault on a child is probably as low as one can go.”

However, the court did hear that the man is the family’s sole breadwinner, and that he remains employed and licensed to drive.

After pleading guilty to the charges before him, he was sentenced by Judge JD Evans to serve 78 days in jail intermittently, with credit for 12 days time served. During that sentence, Evans placed him on probation and barred him from contact with the child. Evans also piled on another 18-month probation sentence for the man to serve after the jail sentence is completed, and ordered the man to provide a sample of his DNA to the Bracebridge OPP detachment.